paperhat.dev

Paperhat Semantic Authoring System

This repository publishes the canonical system documentation for Paperhat.

Paperhat is a semantic authoring and processing system for expressing meaning, structure, and intent independently of runtime, presentation, or delivery target.

This site exists to define:

• what Paperhat is
• what compliant systems must do
• how authority, contracts, and specifications are structured

It is a reference repository.

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What Paperhat Is

Paperhat is a semantic system, not an application framework.

It provides:

• a declarative semantic language (Codex)
• an inline semantic span-binding language (Gloss)
• a set of strictly bounded libraries with defined responsibilities
• a deterministic, inspectable processing pipeline
• a contract-driven architecture for composition and reasoning

Paperhat enables content and systems to be authored once and realized across many targets, including (but not limited to):

• web
• print
• ebooks
• audio and voice
• data export
• knowledge graphs

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What Paperhat Is Not

Paperhat is not:

• a web framework
• a UI toolkit
• a CMS
• a static site generator
• a templating system
• a runtime environment
• a programming language

Those concerns are intentionally external.

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Core Principles

Paperhat is governed by a small number of non-negotiable principles:

• Meaning is data
• Presentation is planned, not embedded
• Structure is separate from prose
• Semantics precede rendering
• Pipelines are explicit
• Purity and IO are strictly separated
• Everything authoritative is documented

These principles are enforced through contracts, not convention.

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System Structure

Paperhat is composed of:

• Languages

  • Codex — declarative semantic authoring
  • Gloss — inline semantic span binding

• Libraries

  • Each library owns a single, explicit responsibility
  • Boundaries are contractual and enforced

• Modules

  • Semantic assemblies of heterogeneous artifacts
  • The primary unit of composition and reasoning

• Pipeline

  • Deterministic compilation, storage, shaping, planning, and rendering

All structure and behavior is defined declaratively.

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Documentation Structure

This repository is organized into several top-level areas, including:

• formal specifications
• system and library contracts
• examples
• notes and rationale
• scope and status material

Documents that define required behavior are marked Normative. Documents marked LOCKED are authoritative and stable.

Non-normative material is explicitly labeled.

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Governance

Paperhat documentation is maintained under a formal governance model.

• Authority is explicit and ordered
• Normative documents are binding
• LOCKED documents change only through versioned revision
• Implementations are independent works

See GOVERNANCE.md for governance rules and authority order.

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Relationship to Implementations

This repository defines intent, architecture, semantics, and invariants.

It does not contain:

• reference implementations
• tooling
• runtimes
• deployment systems

Software implementations may exist elsewhere and are licensed independently.

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Licensing and Copyright

All documentation in this repository is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

The license applies to textual, diagrammatic, and illustrative content only.

No rights are granted to:

• project, language, or specification names
• trademarks or logos
• software implementations

See:

• LICENSE.md
• COPYRIGHT.md

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Status

Paperhat is under active development.

The presence of material in this repository establishes architectural intent and authority, not finality.

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Clarity, determinism, and semantic correctness take precedence over convenience.

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